Ash Wednesday (2002)

October 11, 2002

FILM REVIEW; Resurrection Comes as a Surprise For an Angel in Hell's Kitchen

By DAVE KEHR

Published: October 11, 2002

As a director, writer and actor, Edward Burns never seems to tire of depicting his own sensitivity. In the romantic comedies he has made -- from ''The Brothers McMullen'' (1995) to ''Sidewalks of New York'' (2002) -- he positions himself as the exemplary blue-collar male, a sad-eyed hunk who believes in love, marriage, children and two-car garages but has a hard time finding someone who shares his vision among Manhattan's pool of shallow career women.

''Ash Wednesday,'' Mr. Burns's new film, departs from his usual genre, though at heart it's still a movie about the moral superiority of the main character (Mr. Burns, playing an Irish hoodlum from Hell's Kitchen) to everyone around him. This time Mr. Burns is trying something in the Martin Scorsese street-realist mode, but his self-regarding sentimentality trips him up again.

Apart from an opening flashback, the action takes place entirely on Ash Wednesday in 1983 -- a device that allows Mr. Burns to wear a penitential cross of ashes on his forehead, imprinted by the parish priest (James Handy) who has rescued him from a life of crime. Now the owner of a quaint neighborhood bar, Mr. Burns's Francis Sullivan finds his past catching up with him when his younger brother Sean (Elijah Wood) appears, apparently back from the dead. (Mr. Burns does not spare the Christological references.)

In fact Sean has been living in protective self-exile, having killed three rival gangsters he overheard plotting his brother's demise. Now he has come back to New York to claim his young bride (Rosario Dawson), who, believing herself to be a widow, has become involved with Francis.

Though Sean might seem to have made the greater sacrifice, the subject of ''Ash Wednesday,'' which opens today in New York and Los Angeles, is Francis's nobility: the emphasis is all on his selflessness as he struggles to give up the woman he loves. Most of this struggle is filmed as pouty close-ups of Mr. Burns, who comes more and more to resemble a calendar-art Jesus. He could improve his credibility immensely by occasionally ceding the camera to one of his co-stars, but that is one sacrifice he seems unprepared to make.

''Ash Wednesday'' is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for its comically persistent use of profanity and a touch of bloody violence.

ASH WEDNESDAY

Written and directed by Edward Burns; director of photography, Russell Lee Fine; edited by David Greenwald; music by David Shire; production designer, Susan Block; produced by Margot Bridger and Mr. Burns; released by Good Machine International. At the Sutton Theater, Third Avenue at 57th Street. Running time: 98 minutes. This film is rated R.